A typologically oriented description of main and subordinate clauses in Shiwilu

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2020-11-26
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en
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This study provides an overview of the various types of both main and subordinate clauses found in the Shiwilu language, spoken by approximately twenty people in the town of Jeberos in northeastern Peru. In the first few chapters, an overview of the phonology and morphology of the language is sketched. Next, the syntax of main and subordinate clauses is discussed in that order. First of all, verbal predicates are discussed. The structure of impersonal, intransitive, transitive and ditransitive sentences in Shiwilu is analyzed. To this end, typological literature on these types of sentences is discussed and the strategies used in Shiwilu to form these types of sentences are compared to strategies used to form them in other languages. Next, nonverbal predicates are discussed. The structure and formation of nominal, adjectival and locational predicates in both Shiwilu and some languages around the world are considered and compared to each other. Finally, the structure of compound and complex clauses is examined. Strategies used in languages across South America in order to form subordinate clauses are considered and compared to the strategies used in Shiwilu to form various types of subordinate clauses. At the end of the chapter, a small comparison of Shawi and Shiwilu is done with respect to subordination. It is found that Shiwilu uses many strategies to form main and subordinate clauses also used in other languages across the world. Some of these strategies are very common, whereas others are rarer.
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Faculteit der Letteren